An idea for your unused 5.25 bay...

[Nick.Desrosiers]

So part of why I built my first was to clean up my desk from all the cables going in and out of  my laptop. I hoped to switch to a PCIe sound card as well, so to reduce the amount of boxes on my desk, but by looking at the offering I realized that USB sound cards were still superior in pretty much every way - a big thing for me was XLR in, which is not a thing on PCIe cards. So I reverted to an external unit, picking up a used Scarlett Solo for 70$. I was still determined to mount it internally, and I have no need for an optical drive, so I decided to mount it in the 5.25 bay. 

First, I took the Solo apart. I used a cheap Amazon plastic bracket as a new mount for the guts of the sound card that I had to file a bit to fit the board in properly. This ended up being really solid, there was no play between the card and the mount.

 

Then all I had to do was mount this in the case, and route the cables. For now, the cables are plugged at the back and come out on an empty PCIe slot, but the plan is to drill a PCI cover and install RCA connectors to make it look like a dedicated card. I am waiting for a USB B to USB header to plug the card directly to the motherboard, should come in on monday.

 

Overall I'm satisfied with the result. Looks pretty clean, for an evening's worth of work.

 

If anybody's curious, here's my system:

CPU: Ryzen 3 3200G

RAM: Corsair LPX 8G

GPU: Onboard Vega graphics

MoBo: Asus B450F Gaming

Case: Cougar MX330

[Energycore]

Looks really nice to me

[TempestCatto]

I love this. I also love the idea of a pass through panel as a pci cover.

Can you link to the Amazon bracket you used?

[thrasher_565]

11 minutes ago, Nick.Desrosiers said:

So part of why I built my first was to clean up my desk from all the cables going in and out of  my laptop. I hoped to switch to a PCIe sound card as well, so to reduce the amount of boxes on my desk, but by looking at the offering I realized that USB sound cards were still superior in pretty much every way - a big thing for me was XLR in, which is not a thing on PCIe cards. So I reverted to an external unit, picking up a used Scarlett Solo for 70$. I was still determined to mount it internally, and I have no need for an optical drive, so I decided to mount it in the 5.25 bay. 

First, I took the Solo apart. I used a cheap Amazon plastic bracket as a new mount for the guts of the sound card that I had to file a bit to fit the board in properly. This ended up being really solid, there was no play between the card and the mount.

 

Then all I had to do was mount this in the case, and route the cables. For now, the cables are plugged at the back and come out on an empty PCIe slot, but the plan is to drill a PCI cover and install RCA connectors to make it look like a dedicated card. I am waiting for a USB B to USB header to plug the card directly to the motherboard, should come in on monday.

 

Overall I'm satisfied with the result. Looks pretty clean, for an evening's worth of work.

 

If anybody's curious, here's my system:

CPU: Ryzen 3 3200G

RAM: Corsair LPX 8G

GPU: Onboard Vega graphics

MoBo: Asus B450F Gaming

Case: Cougar MX330

im guess is the XLR is the big plug. too big to fit on a pic slot. they could do an adapter but i guess they don't care. so external it is.

[williamcll]

almost like it was made to fit that spot.

[Nick.Desrosiers]

Here's the bracket from Amazon: 

KingWin Internal 3.5-Inch Hard... https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00A659JXS?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Here are the RCA connectors i'm planning to use:

VCE 3-Pack Gold Plated RCA... https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07FQ2PMBR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Honestly, I wish some OEM would offer something like this, ideally with a dedicated PCIe card to save those precious internal usb headers for RGB. You would just have to screw in your front unit, plug in your PCIe card and connect the two. I really think that there would be a market for this, considering how few people use their 5.25 bay as well as all their PCIe slots...

 

My original plan was to use a USB PCIe expansion with an added internal header, connect the card there and mount the connectors on the same backplate, but that was bumping the cost for this project up another 20~30 bucks... I still might do it down the road, if only to fill out some of the useless PCIes my dumb-full-ATX-buying ass ended up with

[bone_kraken]

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but this guy deserves a raise.

 

I've owned a Scarlett 2i2 1st gen for years and love it. I originally bought it along with a Sterling Audio S50 for recording vocals. Eventually I ended up using this as my gaming mic. I always get compliments on how good my mic sounds in game lobbies, so I continue using this as my default input.

 

After recently building a new machine, I was looking for something to put in my unused bays and stumbled across this post while scrolling through images on Google. I had been considering buying a separate card for the new build anyway, why not give this a shot? 

 

The bracket needed to be cut and filed to the desired shape, but it was well worth the effort. I'm very happy with the end result and needed to share my gratitude.

 

Thank you, sir

 

Case: Phanteks (PH-ES614PTG_BK) Enthoo Pro ATX Chassis

[Henru]

This is really cool! 

[MinEQ]

Both of the final pictures of this being done look AWESOME! You've both inspired me to give this a try on my PC.

 

For those that have done this, to what extent did you have to modify the plastic bracket? Was it as simple as cutting out the 3.5 inch hole at the front to be wider so that the board would fit through (i.e. minimal cutting - just adding slits to the left and right of the 3.5 inch hole)? Or did you cut out the entire front panel (i.e. cut from the top down on the left, around the bottom of the 3.5 inch hole, and then back up to the top on the right)? 

[bone_kraken]

On 11/28/2022 at 6:08 PM, MinEQ said:

Both of the final pictures of this being done look AWESOME! You've both inspired me to give this a try on my PC.

 

For those that have done this, to what extent did you have to modify the plastic bracket? Was it as simple as cutting out the 3.5 inch hole at the front to be wider so that the board would fit through (i.e. minimal cutting - just adding slits to the left and right of the 3.5 inch hole)? Or did you cut out the entire front panel (i.e. cut from the top down on the left, around the bottom of the 3.5 inch hole, and then back up to the top on the right)? 

It did involve just a bit of cutting and filing to get the desired shape. I have a small jigsaw that made easy work of it, but I will say it was very awkward to cut. Please be safe!

 

Everything in the red I cut out using the saw. I filed the edges to get it as straight as possible and bottom section needed to be filed down to its lowest point to get the desired height. I just bought a cheap hand file on amazon for this (link below). 

 

The small plastic nubs in green I just bent and snapped off. There's 2-3 on each side that get in the way when seating the card in the bracket.

 

Good luck!

 

ANDGOO 4 Way Wood Rasp File, Premium Grade High Carbon Hand File and Round Rasp, Half Round Flat & Needle Files. Best Wood Rasp Set for Sharping Wood and Metal Tools (2 Pack) - - Amazon.com